Burning Home
by Bob Bobbing
Summary: Angel struggles for survival in hell.


Title: Burning Home  
  
Rating: 18, scences of extreme violence.  
  
Setting: Early season 3  
  
Disclaimer: If you know it, I don't own it etc etc etc.  
  
Disclaimer 2: Had this idea a while ago but found it hard to write.  
  
Got sick of kicking it around so thought I would finish it off.  
  
Tried a few things with it so all feedback, good and bad would be  
  
greatly appreciated.  
  
Burning Home  
  
Again he raised his arm to strike in self defence. Tired and hungry,  
  
he knew he could not hold them off much longer. They were too  
  
multiple and too strong and too few of his erstwhile colleagues  
  
could deny the pains of hunger to assist. Over his shoulder, Angel  
  
saw that six other vampires had abandoned the fight to feed on the  
  
man they had trapped. Angel turned and ran. He used his momentum to  
  
burst through the other feeding vampires and sank his fangs deep  
  
into the victim. The man screamed loud with an intoxication of pain  
  
and slumped unconscious against Angel. So consumed was he with  
  
sucking the hot, sticky goodness from the man, Angel didn't even  
  
notice. Nor did he notice the shrieks of the vampires around him as  
  
they were devoured live. He did however feel as a Maglon ripped at  
  
his back as it flew by.  
  
The unconscious man forgotten, Angel turned. Blood lust had cost the  
  
vampires many of their band, the Maglon picking them off easily as  
  
they concentrated on their hunger. Now all that were left to face  
  
the thirty or so ravenously hungry Maglon were Angel and four  
  
others. Despite their winged advantages and greater strength the  
  
Maglon could not survive a frontal attack on the vampires so the  
  
blood thirsters backed against the wall standing on their prostrate,  
  
drained but still alive victim and stared out at the winged, taloned  
  
demons. The Maglon stared back, hungry frustration evident on their  
  
faces. Angel smiled an ironic smile. They would survive as long as  
  
they remained conscious. Angel wondered if the blood from the man he  
  
was standing on would sustain him long enough. How long ago had the  
  
Maglon fed? That a pack this size would search for a large band of  
  
vampires to feed on could mean it had been a while.  
  
One of the weaker vampires swayed before regaining his balance but  
  
another immediately tossed him out to the frenzied pack. No chink in  
  
the defensive line could be tolerated if any of them were to  
  
survive. Time went slowly. A bright flash followed by the dull roar  
  
of thunder broke the monotony of the vigil.  
  
The Maglon turned as one, swept their magnificent wings and fled  
  
skywards in panic. Angel ran too, careful though to hug the rock  
  
face and the little protection that it provided from the rain that  
  
was threatening to fall. Here you never went too far from shelter  
  
and Angel found the cave in time. Still, he wasn't quick enough and  
  
he could feel his skin burning where a few drops of precipitation  
  
had hit him.  
  
Angel looked out on the desolate plains. The red dusty rock  
  
stretched out in front and around the horizon switched into the pale  
  
red sky that only the few black rain clouds punctured. The picture  
  
was framed by the sheer, rock faces that rose like towering  
  
monuments and gave the scene an intimidating claustrophobia. The  
  
rain began to fall with greater intensity.  
  
Out in the open one of the vampires had found his crushing hunger  
  
too great to ignore and still knelt by the human victim intent on  
  
sucking the remaining life from the man. At first the almost  
  
narcotic effect of the blood shielded the vampire from the pain that  
  
indicated his fate but Angel knew it wouldn't last. The rain  
  
continued to fall the hungry scavenger at last felt the rain  
  
scalding his body. He looked up with open eyed, open mouthed,  
  
surprise at the deadly rain falling. The vampire screamed deeply as  
  
the rain consumed both him and his victim. Angel did not turn away.  
  
Expressionless he continued to stare out aimlessly at the grim scene  
  
but his mind was already focused on where his next meal would come  
  
from.  
  
Angel was biting hard into the neck of the girl. She was still  
  
muttering her pleadings but that was by now a mere reflex as the  
  
shock and pain had taken over. He did not hear the movement behind  
  
him. The lead Hallard demon hit him hard. Taken completely by  
  
surprise Angel crashed into the wall of the cave with force and fell  
  
to the ground. Taking a few moments, he surveyed the situation from  
  
the cave floor. Another Hallard demon had entered the cave, grabbed  
  
the food and was making for the exit. The first approached the  
  
prostrate vampire obviously deciding that he was also good enough to  
  
eat.  
  
Angel was too hungry and had tracked his victim too long to allow  
  
her to disappear. With fury and vampiric strength and speed he  
  
launched himself at the attacking demon, knocking it down. He  
  
grabbed at the girl the other Hallard demon was dragging away. The  
  
demon pulled back. The arm of the girl came away in his hand but  
  
Angel had no time to concern himself with the dripping blood.  
  
Using the arm as a weapon he clubbed the adversary now rising from  
  
the floor. Twice, three times, with violent abandon, Angel smashed  
  
at the demon with the arm. And then he collided with the far wall.  
  
Everything went black and buzzed for a few seconds. Angel was  
  
finding it hard to focus but he could make out more Hallard shaped  
  
bodies entering the chamber. One had picked up the arm of the girl  
  
and was approaching Angel with an athletic purpose that did not bode  
  
well for the vampire.  
  
Angel could hear the dying screams of the girl as the intense pain  
  
bit through her nausea, the demons ripping muscle from bone with  
  
their teeth and claws. The arm was brought down forcibly on Angel.  
  
Strange, Angel mused, that her flesh on his flesh made a sharp crack  
  
not the thud he had expected. Angel recognised the pleasant drift to  
  
unconscious bliss. Crack, again. Closer. Something however, refused  
  
to dim in him. Something was still burning brightly and refused to  
  
allow him to surrender, here, like this. These Hallard would not  
  
have an easy course with him. Even the repeated thumping of the club  
  
on his head could not diminish the flame that told him for something  
  
he was better than this fate at least now.  
  
With new found energy the souled vampire scrambled to all fours and  
  
launched himself towards the opening. Surprise at his endurance  
  
prevented the demons from allowing their food to escape. Out into  
  
the open, Angel collapsed on the ground with a fall that drained the  
  
last of his energy and his spirit. It was raining.  
  
Tired, hungry and broken, Angel could feel the rain burn through his  
  
clothes. In moments it would be his skin but he didn't care. Here he  
  
would die. Here on these evil plains, in this evil land far away  
  
from somewhere he had left his heart but he could no longer  
  
remember. This was the end.  
  
There was a crack of thunder. Angel hit the stone floor hard. Death  
  
was strange. It had a cold stone floor and the warm pleasant smell  
  
of soft, water rain, cut grass and warm, fresh mammal blood. Warm,  
  
fresh mammal blood! Angel struggled to his feet unsteady with  
  
desire, his mind clear of all things except the scent of warm blood.  
  
He staggered but moved forward. He ran, out the door of the mansion  
  
and into the warm Sunnydale Autumn. 


End file.
